The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus capable of facilitating plotting (stereo-plotting) by forming an orthogonally projected image from a centrally projected image with a device for plotting the field to be measured or inputting an orthogonally projected image which has been already obtained into the device. The invention further relates to an image formation apparatus capable of performing stereoscopic verification or simulation for a current situation by plotting the site to be measured not two-dimensionally but three-dimensionally, compensating for a section not seen on the orthogonally projected image or a spot not measured three-dimensionally, and also by enabling the orthogonally projected image to be seen from a different viewpoint. Note that in this specification of this application, xe2x80x9cphotographxe2x80x9d shall contain a wide concept such as xe2x80x9cacquire digital image,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cdetect digital imagexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctake a picture.xe2x80x9d
In the related art, a drawing obtained by surveying a site to be measured has been prepared by paper and a pen, or the like, typically used in plane table surveying. In recent years, a line drawing has been made for a site to be measured by a combination of a survey instrument and a portable computer, typically used in a pen-based mapping system. In such a conventional pen-based mapping system, plotting has been carried out by using the survey instrument such as a total station, a global positioning system (GPS) or the like to make a line drawing on the portable computer. Actual plotting of the site to be measured was carried out by going to the site and viewing its current situation, alternatively in an office by watching photographs taken at the site. In aerial photographs, plotting was made from a stereo photographing image by using an analytic plotting instrument or the like.
Conventionally, however, only a two-dimensional line drawing has been made in the case of plotting in the actual site by means of the pen-based mapping system. Also, in the conventional case of plotting by bringing the photographs back to the office, the plotting has been carried out by means of collation with the photographs of the actual situation. In this case, however, there has not always been one-to-one correlation between the drawings and the photographs, which has resulted in the difficulty of plotting while verifying, the impossibility of spot identification or other problems. Further, the prepared drawings have been all two-dimensional and thus three-dimensional verification has been impossible. Consequently, the actual site has had to be imagined by watching the photographs taken from different angles.
In addition, in the conventional case of plotting based on aerial photographs, plotting has been carried out by using the analytic plotting instrument or the like. In this case, however, operational skills were needed, and thus the plotting was not easily carried out by anybody. Further, in the conventional case of plotting from the orthogonally projected images, spots unseen or not measured were difficult to be plotted.
With the foregoing problems in mind, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of facilitating plotting for anybody by pasting an image in the case of plotting a site to be measured, and also enabling a situation of the site to be seen from a different viewpoint by performing plotting by pasting a three-dimensional symbol even for a spot unseen on an orthogonally projected image or a spot that has not been measured. Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of not only supporting plotting but also verification or even virtual/stereoscopic simulation for a current situation of a site to be performed from various angles by drawing an orthogonally projected image from a different viewpoint.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of easy plotting by preparing an orthogonally projected image, a sharpened image and an edge image or an image combining these images, displaying the images and then only tracing a screen. The plotting is easily performed also by carrying out various image processing operations for semi-automatic line extraction, contour extraction or the like, and then registering and disposing a symbol.
Yet further object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus enabling automatic plotting to be performed by using a template matching technology, and capable of facilitating plotting for anybody.
One of the features of the present invention is a simplified plotting, which is realized by forming an orthogonally projected image from an image of a site to be plotted. Another feature of the present invention is a plotting support, which is given by performing image processings such as sharpening, edge extracting and the like using the obtained orthogonally projected image. In this case, drawing is simplified by performing automatic plotting depending on an object to be plotted. Yet another feature of the present invention is easy verification as well as drawing for a current situation of a site, which are simultaneously performed by prestoring two-dimensional and three-dimensional symbols having predetermined shapes, sizes and the like, so as to enable a spot unseen on the orthogonally projected image or a spot that has not been measured to be plotted and seen on the orthogonally projected image from a different viewpoint.
According to solving means of the present invention, an image forming apparatus is provided, which comprises:
a direction specifying unit for specifying a direction of forming an orthogonally projected image; and
an orthogonally projected image forming unit for forming a first orthogonally projected image based on image data and its three-dimensional data, and forming a second orthogonally projected image seen from a different viewpoint from the direction specified by the direction specifying unit based on the image data and this three-dimensional data.
In accordance with the present invention, the image forming apparatus may further comprise: a symbol pasting unit for pasting a specified symbol to a position of an object appearing in the orthogonally projected image formed by the orthogonally projected image forming unit, the symbol being indicative of the object.